Budget-setting meetings will be taking place throughout February as councils try to balance the books. But the real budget for local government was fixed by Kenneth Clarke last November. The Tories have dumped the bill for their tax cuts onto councils mainly run by Labour and Liberal Democrats. JOHN LISTER looks at the scale of the crisis, and the silence of the Ukons THE SAVAGE cuts in local government spending which are convulsine counci chambers across the country, forcine campaieners and trade unionists back onto the streets in lobbies and protests are the latest of a series of cutbacks tearing the very heart out of council cus of di.s bilion co meet gorce- Two ago, Colte s acce ment spending limits. In many areas education bore the brunt of the cuts, and over 4,000 teaching jobs were lost, while angry parents and Moonon n c saic coun England" staged campaign, Fight Against Cuts in Schools defended The heat was felt by Tory minisIers. Incy rccopnisco that coucation cuts were a hot potato, and the cuts in council spending limits for the present 1996-7 financial year were targeted to avoid hitting The notional spending limits for education were slightly inceared. leaving other services to bear the brunt. But in real terms many councils were still looking at cuts, and more teachers were axed, alongside social workers and staff from other FACE and other education cam. paigners battled on, winning in creasing support from the teaching unions, NUT's demonstration last October, and the forthcoming National Edu-cation Week, supported by all the main teaching unions and campaigns, on March 10-15.
While schools were to some exent protected, the Tories focused the 1996-7 cuts on social services, giring councils a total increased allocation of less than 1% - well below inflation. 70% of authorities had To make cuts in services, scrap develsocial services: many still face a shortfall.
From this April, the squeeze will be even tighter: Kenneth Clarke's budget has given councils only half tac 2.17e orcral mcrcasc tacy Ricca to maintain existing scrvices.
but extra costs for communis:
• dumped on to councils by the tonies - will soak up atmost Bil of this extra cash, leaving social services facing a 4% cut.
Community care of the elderly is already so under-funded that three quarters of all health authorities report that front-line hospital beds are being "blocked" by elderly patients who cannot be discharged because there is no support or suitable accommodation for them in the This log-jam is just part of what has become a huge and growing crisis in social services. After imposing cuts and increased charges totalling £200m in 1996-7, councils say spending for 1997-8 has to go up by £516m to stay level: but after intne coverumcat Is KiVink only £262m- half what is needed.
As the Association of Metropolitan Authorities warns, many vulnerable people will be excluded: "Failure to provide additional resources will lead to a firther and unacceptable tightening of eligibility criteria for people who need community care servico -The frail eiderly are caught in a one movien nan mave aec excluded from NHS care by new, rigorous criteria imposed by health authorities last April: now they cial services, and left to fend for It's not just the eiderly who depend on social services. 45% of social service spending goes on the elderly, but 28% goes on services for children and young people. Several councils are warning that the new cuts could leave them unable ta guarantee statutory levels of care for children. of the bills that councils face for the additional responsibilities imposed upon them for a wide range of vulnerable people: costs of the Carers Act are estimated at £137m; Mental Bealt servics 282m the Children Act £184m; Refugees and Asylum Seckers £50m: in total chese extra costs add up to £614m next year.
Meenwhile building projects have ground to a halt, with a massive £307m worth of capital schemes deferred for lack of cash in 1995-6. This is equivalent to a year and a half of social services capital VIES expenditure at current levels, creating huge problems of backlog main. need a 11.25 billion increase on a social services budget of £8bn (15%) This is why a growing list of county ano metropontan councus arc con(£2.2m) cur, North Yorkshire SZma cur of 30% in community care clients to save £3.3m; cuts in Norfolk could hit £3.7m; Northamptonshire must cut £4.1m, with 100 soNottinghamshire is planning to axe two family centres. a children's home and 100 social work jobs to save 14 om: Hereford and Worcester has warned that it cannot meet statutory responsibilities if it has to cut £4.8m; East Sussex is short by Dorastating But Kent tops the league with a massive [23.7m (10.7%) projected cur which will devastate social services, forcing the council to propose the wholesale privatisation of services to save money.
This is no accident. The Tories are cynically applying the squeeze in order to press-gang councils towards even further privatisation of key social services. A new White Paper is due shortly, strongly supported by Stephen call for residential homes for children and the elderly, meals on wheels, home visits for the elderly and adoption services to be put up for compulsory competitive tender.
It seems that the policy is about as popular as the new Royal Yacht: an initial opinion poll for Community Care magazine found 75% opposed to privatisation of social services, and only 20% in favour. tion has already been felt by tens of thousands of council workers who haye losac obs or scen tacin staffing levels, pay packets and conditions slashed back in school meals, all forms of cleaning seryices, refuse collection, and a wide swatheof council services, with La bour councils like Lambeth being the Tory tendering policies..
Now Labour-led Kent Council desperately secking massive spend. vatise its entire home care service for elderly and disabled people. The impact will be felt by care workers whose wages will be slashed and jobs axed, and by clients whose quality of care will come second to the protits of the cheanskate firms Social services directors are warning that the new round of cuts could trigger a series of court actions by aggrieved individuals deLast year Gloucestershire County crucial test case, and was told that regardless of its financial plight it had no right to withhold care from those who need it.
Campaigners are already threatening to invoke the 1970 Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act and the Children's Act if councils seck to balance the books by strippins away tne sares beror carc trom This year the crisis is again hitting the full spectrum of council firing line: in Bury alone, up to 160 (cacaing loos tace tne axc. 4i local authorities have so far identified But no section of council workers, and nobody depending on council services is safe as councils across the country wrestle with vast Manchester faces a £14m crisis, Birmingham £35m; Lancashire's shortfall is £S2m, the Kent total is £79m. In Scotland, too, councils are under the cosh. Glasgow, facing cuts of £78m, is warning that 1,100 jobs could department: Edinburgh must cut 135m, with 800 jobs at risk including In 1995 0 it was cstimaico toal £611m was needed to repair Britain's crumbling libraries and buy new books. Instead many councils bogan to close them down, North Yorkshire is again swinging the axe, threatening to close 20 of their 45 libraries to help cut £3.6m from education and library spending. The Kent carnage could include total closure of the county's adult education and youth service, and cost Housing budgets are also being clobbered, and housing departments reduced. In 1995 it was estimated that council estates needed up to £20 billion in repairs. Since then allocations have become even tighter: but still the Tories won't allow councils to spend the ES billion they received from sales of Council Tax will be forced up throuphout the country as councils seck to mitigate the impact of the cuts for the cuts in central government funding by foisting the bill onto local people. Millions of Londoners are expected to face council tax rises averagBut lory minisieis continuc to 8p ply ruthless "capping" limits to local spending — restrictions which Labour is now committed to continue, repard. less of the outcome of the election.
The more astute councillors warned immediately after last year's budget that Kenneth Ciarke's vote-buving 1n basic rate of income tax would have to be paid for through increases in council tax. Local government spending accounts for a quarter of general government spending.
Now councillors and council bureaucrats are hunched over calculators, working out the precise combination of increases in council tax and cuts in Kirklees council is warning of a 6% increase in council tax, linked to spending cuts of 3%. In Oxfordshire, even the Tory group is advocating the John Gummer's "cap" of C339m, financed by a befty increase in council cax. In Scotland, council tax rises of 3% to 35% have been predicted, with West Dumbartonshire warning of an inBut where are the organisations that ought to be leading the resistance?
As the councils across England unveil the cuts they plan to balance the books, and ad hoc campaigns of parents, teachers, social service staff, voluntary sector groups and their chents battle to save front-line services, there has been a deatening silence from the public sector unions, as thousands line services face the sack, wage cuts or Since Gordon Brown's bombshell on public spending, the union leaders can't hide any more behind vain hopes rescue. The current crunch is a dress come if Brown sticks to his threats and upnolas wiarkes buaget limits on spending for two more grim years.